Life Traveller. Been Somewhere. Going Somewhere.

A very satisfying evening and I'm so pleased to see the following friends getting bloscars:

LandersUK, Subville, ajnspencer, lyndlj, Juzzzy, rowtheboat, and RunDontWalk who also gets special mention as winner of the Moira Smith Forget-Me-Not Award. Warmest congratulations to all of you. And well done LandersUK for organising it again.

I wish Jenray and Lindow could have won as well.

Congratulations also to the winners who are not on my friends list (even though they are unlikely to see this).

That avrilo has something to answer for.

I. You have to look up page 123 in the nearest book to you.
II. Look for the fifth sentence.
III. Then post the three sentences that follow the fifth sentence
IV. Tag five people to do the same.

The nearest book to me this evening is The Faber Pocket Medical Dictionary. Don't ask.

Since it's a dictionary and short on sentences I have looked at the fifth definition and am posting the next one, which rather strangely is:

drug. Substance used as a medicine. D. addiction. A dependence on drugs which is beyond the subject's control. D. erruption. Rash due to sensitivity to a drug.

And so it carries on in a similar vein (well, it is a medical dictionary - groan). The person writing the definiton of 'drug' seems to be inordinately fond of full stops.

I'm going to tag my five newest friends here: frankofyle, kelki, Arnica, babooshka and rowtheboat (sorry row, I got you last time as well, hope you don't mind).

Last of the Mohicans. Beautiful. It lifts me. I want to die listening to this.

What has happened to Andy Spencer's blog? It's been like this for two days. Does anyone know?

Dirty Old Town was written by Ewan McColl and is set in the industrial landscape of Manchester of around fifty years ago. I think Shane McGowan's voice is perfect for the rendition of this song and is wonderfully evocative.

I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
Kissed a girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

Clouds a drifting across the moon
Cats a prowling on their beat
Spring's a girl in the street at night
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

Heard a siren from the docks
Saw a train set the night on fire
Smelled the spring on the smoky wind
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

I'm going to make me a good sharp axe
Shining steel tempered in the fire
Will chop you down like an old dead tree
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
Kissed a girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

I've never seen a train set the night on fire, but I can visualise it. It's such a beautiful and powerful image.

Oh no, I've been tagged twice now - thanks avrilo and jenray - I think. I'm hard put to think of any habits, facts, quirks, let alone seven. Lindow, it being St Valentine's Day, has listed seven sexual ones which made me smile, but I'm not about to do the same.

a. list seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself
b. tag seven people to do the same
c. do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it"

1. I like gardening.
2. I much prefer to walk than go on the bus.
3. My favourite colour of flowers is white.
4. My favourite time of the year is spring (mainly because there are lots of white wild flowers around then).
5. My favourite fruit is lemon (with a sprinkling of salt).
6. I prefer non-fiction to fiction (mostly).
7. I can't sing.

That was hard work. Maybe I should add that my brain seems to be resting.

I tag the following: husbandorcat, babooshka, Captain_Autumn, redleader, playwrite27, juzzzy, rowtheboat, although some of them don't seem like the sort to do one of these, so I may be disappointed.

My friend Jenray has started a petition here to save The Jazz Station. Even if like me you don't like jazz, please sign - it's always good to have diverse music styles to listen to.

Girls don't have to be persuaded to take off their clothes these days - they fling them off at the slightest provocation - and then relieve the boys of theirs too. At least that's what it seems like from where I'm standing.

This song is of it's time and the sweeter because of that. It always makes me smile.

Much (if not all) of life has that approaching and retreating aspect about it. Maybe it's not quite as rhythmic as waves on the shore line or the beating of the heart, or as evident, but it's there.

I know the medical profession seems to disapprove of people poking about their spots, zits, or whatever else you like to call them, but I evolved a method and maybe the time has come to share it, since I've never seen it recommended anywhere. I know I said I thought it up myself, and I did, but if I can think something up, so can anyone else, especially as it's such a simple way of dealing with the problem. Anyway, here it is:

Get a bottle of Surgical Spirit, cotton wool and a sharp needle (a hypodermic needle is best, if you can get hold of one, as they're very sharp and you can do a proper cut instead of just a puncture, which you have to try and tear apart). First of all the spot needs to have at least a bit of a head. Hands need to be washed - anti-bacterial soap is a good idea - and dried with a clean towel. Now using the clean cotton wool, douse the spot and the needle with the Surgical Spirit. Gently insert the needle into the skin covering the top of the head, from the side, not stabbing it from the top. When the needle comes out at the other side, push it upwards to tear the skin apart. (The hole needs to be big enough for the stuff to come out, otherwise you're just squeezing it back into your face.) Squeeze out the contents of the spot, making sure you get all of it out, and that usually includes a semi-solid little bit at the end. Actually, squeeze it until only blood or clear liquid comes out. Now more Surgical Spirit. This will hurt, but make sure you get plenty in. If it isn't hurting, you aren't doing it right. Leave it to heal, and don't cover with concealer or makeup.

This is the method I used to deal with my spots when I was in my teens and early twenties, and it worked very well. I know that the medical profession fears that people poking about in their spots can cause infections, but if you're scrupulously clean, this won't happen. Of course, if you aren't scrupulously clean and you do get an infection, don't blame me - you are responsible for your own actions. I have given you advice based on a tried and true method (which my children also used), how you apply it is up to you.

This method has been used by people who have the usual amount of spots - if you have serious acne, then you need antibiotics and should see a doctor. As for scaring, if you're worried about that, neither I or my children had any as a result of using this method, but I can't guarantee that you won't have any. You shouldn't though, as you're only piercing the top layers of skin and going no deeper.

Further to my recent post here listing past friends, I'm now going to make a list of present ones, not that all of them are present, or rather they are present in past posts only, since they haven't written anything for ages. Anyway, here they are (in order of being friended, except for Juzzzy, who managed to unfriend everyone recently, and then refriend them):

mjohnson
Emsbabee
Captain_Autumn
husbandorcat
KandAmoist
jdreverer
MichaelStMark
Dandalion
lyndlj
avrilo
RapunzelRapunzel
MarikaSunSeeker
Wensum24
surreality
CassandraofTroy
jaketaylor
cj592
MagicalMysteryTour
Isadora101
ajnspencer
timekillingkid
timsuzy
sixpence
Look-Busy
Playwrite27
FlowersInMyHair
topofthestairs
PaddyUK
freeasthewind
kevinwilson
redleader
jenray
subville
GilraenH
LandersUK
buzzzyb
Lindow
RunDontWalk
Juzzzy
LifeBegins
rowtheboat
Arnica

I've removed the names of those mentioned in my previous post Gone But Not Forgotten who have died or moved over to other blogsites. And what a tedious thing this turned out to be. Thankfully, next time (in about a year) I'll just have to copy and paste and add or delete as appropriate. I was going to link to all of those, but there's no point, as they are already linked to, of course.

I got the idea from LandersUK, who said he might welcome all his blogfriends again. This would also provide a record of who is on his list. That way, when they disappear he can know who they are. Thanks, I think.

It's lovely to see how many of my friends here are nominated for the 2008 Bloscars - I hope all of you win, although as there are more than one of you up for some of the categories, how am I going to be able to choose?

I always thought that old age had nothing to recommend it, and now that I'm lurking about on it's doorstep, I'm convinced of it. I'm still going to try and make the best of it though. There's not much else I can do, is there?